The U.S. Treasury said Houston-based Patriot Bank and Sugar Land-based First Community Bank will be among the 53 banks in a Treasury auction of Troubled Asset Relief Program preferred shares, possibly starting next month.

It’s a sign that Houston banks are starting to see the last bits of the federal government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program eke away.

Hypothetically, if Patriot and First Community's auction, announced Dec. 18, results in a full exit for both banks, only three Houston-area banks and bank holding companies will retain TARP shares: Houston-based Lone Star Bank, Farmers & Merchants Bancshares Inc. and TCB Holding Co., the parent company of The Woodlands-based Texas Community Bank, according to the Treasury.

Like many institutions with outstanding preferred stock held by the Treasury’s TARP program, Patriot’s holding company, Patriot Bancshares Inc., is partnering “with a private equity investor that is planning to purchase our company’s outstanding preferred stock from the Treasury,” said Don Ellis, president and CEO of Patriot, adding that the investment will amount to the bank’s exit of TARP.

Patriot had in 2009 received $26 million in TARP funds.

First Community Bank CEO Doug Harker was not immediately available for comment. FC Holdings Inc., the holding company for First Community, in 2009, had originally received $21 million in TARP.

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